I feel obliged to clear the air regarding the accusations against Team Ambition this past weekend. The accusation I’m referring to is that Davey Richards, Tony Kozina, Darren Dean and myself deliberately showed up late to an Indy show in Iowa after demanding to have the card changed, physically threatened the promoter to pay us and left before wrestling. It boggles one’s mind how stories stray from one individual to the next, altering truths and facts into self-fulfilling myths. I admire the passion that is being displayed amongst people obviously outraged by these accusations, and I think it’s tremendous when people stand up for their beliefs on morality. I am simply going to recount the story as I saw it unfold to help shed some light on the matter and perhaps bring forth some clarity to those made ignorant by false claims.

I had my first professional wrestling match in October of 2005, so that would put me at coming up on seven years of having matches. By no means do I consider myself above anybody else or do I consider myself an experienced veteran of the wrestling business. I’m constantly learning and improving to better myself both physically and mentally towards the game. However, I do have a genuine respect for wrestling and those that paved the road before me. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve worked my ass off and sacrificed a lot of time, money, friends and well being of my physical health to get to where I am today. “Mouth shut, ears open” is a saying not practiced enough amongst many “workers” and through practicing this phrase I’ve learned how things operate on the road and what is and isn’t acceptable.

Anybody that has ever worked me, booked me or for that matter met me will tell you that I always wrestle with conviction and with passion regardless of how much money I’m making or how small the crowd is. The same can be said for any member of Team Ambition because we have pride and belief in what our team represents. On the road we find a gym, we train, we show up to the show (not always on time) and we deliver matches that people expect of our work ethic. This weekend was no different.

After a show in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday and a show in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Saturday the Earth’s rotation had brought us to Sunday. Now if you had asked anybody from these two shows about Team Ambition’s work ethic and attitude on these two shows I’m sure most responses would have been satisfactory. Providing the best matches on both nights and delivering an open training seminar on Saturday before the show, which included the attendance of said “promoter/worker” that we supposedly would threaten 24 hours later. No demeaning or insulting comments were made during these shows towards individuals like is what’s now being claimed. An altercation between Kozina and Ryan Kidd happened and it is nobody’s business but Tony and Ryan Kidd’s. They both know why this happened and Tony isn’t a bully, he’s a veteran that was providing a lesson to someone that had disrespected him. I won’t elaborate on the matter because it’s not my place but contact Tony for an account of the unbiased simple truth.

So it was Sunday morning and as per usual we found a gym. Body Masters Inc. Run by a gentleman named David who had also performed on the Magnum wrestling show the previous evening. Ask him about Team Ambition’s “devious ways”, or ask him about the unrequested donation we made to his awesome self-run business. The point I’m getting at is that we are men of routine and consistency and if we are shown respect and generosity we will show it back, plain and simple. Thanks again to Body Masters for the great training facility and I highly recommend it to anybody living in or traveling through Omaha, Nebraska.

Following my match the previous night and our training session that morning, my back had been giving me a lot of grief. After a full weekend of wrestling, and a full schedule of upcoming appearances, we decided amongst ourselves it would be best for everybody involved if we got our singles matches changed to an 8 man tag team match for the show. By no means was this an excuse to call it in and have a lazy match, this was simply a way of evening the work load and still putting his guys over clean in an outstanding 30 minute match. This request was met with hesitance from the promoter, claiming that his fans had expected specific singles matches from us and that he couldn’t come to an agreement with us on the matter. After several back and forth attempts of an agreement, he simply told us we were then cancelled off his show. “You can’t just cancel us like this” Tony replied, “I just did” was his response. Let me remind you we are in the middle of a cornfield laden highway in friggen Iowa and we’re being told that we no longer have a booking for today and to just go home.

Davey Richards and myself make a living from wrestling, being told to turn around and just drive home was insulting and disrespectful. At that moment, canceling us completely meant he owed us the full amount of pay whether we showed up or not. It’s understandable that he wanted specific matches and we were willing to work with him on the matter but cancelling us then and there shows a level of immaturity and ignorance. So after getting lost we finally arrive at the show an hour after bell time, which admittedly, isn’t unusual for us. This is where we supposedly threaten him. According to the promoter himself and one witness that was with him. Davey basically reiterated everything I just wrote about regarding our lives, how we wrestle for a living and how disrespecting Tony, a guy who trained us and paved the road is unacceptable. Davey just said it in his own words, which can come off as extremely intimidating and were obviously misconstrued as threats. We DO NOT threaten people unless it’s a matter that makes it completely justified like a fucking rapist is stalking your girlfriend. People with legitimate backgrounds are usually the last to threaten or hurt others. I spend almost every day being humbled by legitimate fighters who tap me out constantly, which is basically me admitting to them that they could have killed me but I tapped out so “please release the choke”. And they’re all cool as shit, the people who fulfill their own self-righteous agenda are the ones who pretend to be something they’re not and are more often then not bluffing and hiding something.

So after dealing with all of this we continue to negotiate some way for us to wrestle and make at least some of the money that we were promised. I’m starting to feel bad for the guy as he clearly has no idea how to run a wrestling promotion, (bear in mind I have no idea either). He then has the audacity to say and I quote:

“Well nobody here really knows who you guys are anyway…”

Well which way is it?! Do you have fans expecting certain singles matches out of us that you promised or do they not know who the fuck any of us are and it doesn’t matter if we do a damn 8 man tag?! It’s all well and fine if the 25 people there don’t know who we are, but don’t tell us something and then completely change your words. That statement was the breaking point for Davey and Tony. So we agreed to work a tag, Davey and myself against 2 of his guys, who I wont mention because after all the shit talking they’ve done in the last 24 hours they don’t deserve any more publicity. We take a pay cut, yet still enough to cover our gas and all of our food for the day, put our gear on, got paid and walked out the back door.

Was what we did wrong and unethical? Perhaps. Was what we did completely justified and reasonable? Perhaps. The fact of the matter was we felt disrespected and so “give and you shall receive”. The point being that sometimes you have to be the bad guy and stand up for what you believe in. I’ll be completely honest in saying the entire thing made me feel really uncomfortable and I felt a sense of guilt. Am I going to apologize? Absolutely not, because you have to live and die by the sword. Regardless of regrets, one must stand by their decisions and at the end of the day a guy disrespected two of my close friends that I look up to and that’s simply, morally wrong.

The majority of you reading this is probably in complete disagreement with me on the matter and thinks what went down in Milo, Iowa yesterday was a crime. Most of you reading this probably have a strong dislike for me, being my wrestling style, my selling, my promos and character ability (or lack there of) or just you know me and personally dislike me for whatever reason. I’m okay with that. Hopefully this whole incident won’t affect anybody’s desire to book me or Team Ambition. However, if it does that’s okay because I’m a man of honour and regardless of what you say or think I’m going to continue being the best possible professional wrestler I can be. I’m standing by the decision that was made whether I regret it or not. It’s in the past and to those people who are hiding behind a computer screen “Wishing Team Ambition would get in a car wreck and sustain career ending injuries” just makes me sad for you. You live everyday through other people’s successes and mistakes and you feed off it to just have something to talk about amongst your pro-wrestling sewing circle. To anybody making an overly elaborate blown out of proportion attempt to create hateful energy towards myself you can stop wasting your time. Go and read a book, put on some “Beatles”, smoke a fat joint and try to incorporate a little love and positivity in your life. Focusing on negative aspects only dumbs everyone around you down, get over it and move on. XOXO

The way this plays out is that they (Kozina/O'Reily/Richards) were at the boiling point with dealing with this wrestler/promoter/person. Part of it is wrong, but in all reality, not everything is fair. They had to stick up for what they believed in, and by getting disrespected with the promoter saying:

"Since giving the entire Iowa situation more thought I’ve realized that the entire incident was just an irrational and sudden action made over an impulse fueled by emotion. Everyone makes reactionary decisions when they feel they are in the right, no matter how outlandish and wrong it may seem to others. Time brings forth clarity to those that have made mistakes.

I have since reached out to Jeremy Hall, the promoter of Sunday’s show to obtain his address so that I can return to him the money that I walked away with on Sunday. I’m hoping this entire incident can be forgotten and people can now move forward with their lives.

Please keep supporting Ring of Honor and Independent wrestling at all levels."

And according to this guy's Twitter, all of the money has been Paypal'd back to the promoter.

I see both points of view and I'm glad that Kyle O'Reilly decided to refund the money despite his right for travelling expenses and booking time. I hope he continues to get booked around the country. I hope this minor disruption becomes a distant memory for the fans.

Itchypanda wrote:I see both points of view and I'm glad that Kyle O'Reilly decided to refund the money despite his right for travelling expenses and booking time. I hope he continues to get booked around the country. I hope this minor disruption becomes a distant memory for the fans.

I can't really blame O'Reilly for this since he's nothing more than Davey's bitch, and pretty much was simply going around with what Davey did... However this is definitely something that warrants Davey and Kozina to be blackballed from the entire business for (and would be if the wrestling business should have any integrity), and so should anyone associated with them unless they distance themselves from those clowns... of course, O'Reilly's association with Davey is the only reason why he ever gets booker anywhere, it sure as hell has nothing to do with his actually abilities (or lack thereof)

I don't have any philosophic phrases like O'Reilly, nor empty threats which seems to be the darling way to be tough now-a-days behind the protective veil of the Internet (the quickest sure fire way to prove your an absolute coward). But what I do have is the truth and I'll indulge you.

Now O'Reilly already told the story so and he's a much more patient man than I so I'll just drop the main points: I was trained that you don't disrespect veterans. There's a pecking order in this business, and if you go against it you get your ass handed to you. I was trained that the boys stick up for each other and don't allow others to disrespect them, because it reflects on the business as a whole. So when a guy who took my seminar the day prior and all of a sudden, over text message (everyones got balls of steel behind texts/twitter/fb) disrespects the guy who helped bring me and Kyle up, and more importantly, my friend, I feel 100% justified taking action. So, not over text/twitter/fb but in person (I know, can you imagine some people actually confront people face to face?? Insanity!!) I tell this guy how disrespectful he was and if this was 10 yrs ago he would have gotten his ass beat. He agreed and apologized and insisted he shake Tony's hand. Before this he tried and admitted to lying saying he didn't know whom he was talking to on text so he didn't know he was disrespecting Kozina (a lie Tony quickly called out as, and we have the text messages to prove, Tony said in the beginning, "This is Kozina".)

Now understand I'm in the middle of Iowa, 7 hrs from home in the middle of corn fields (which is beautiful scenery btw) and this guy looked out and saw 25 people at his show, knew he was going to lose his ass and tried to cancel us off when we're 2 hrs away. Tony and Kyle were hurt, an unfortunate and common aspect of how we train and work. So we tried to get an 8 man. The promoter at first said the fans paid to see singles (to which Tony responded, and we have the texts, "ok well do the singles") which contradicted his later statement of "well noone here knows who you guys are".

As far as me physically threatening him, sorry ace, never happened, and if you truly think it did - press charges! I have nothing to hide, do you?

I came to you face to face like a man, told you how I felt. I don't do backstage rumors, gossip, social media tough guy stuff. I tell people how I feel in person and take full responsibly for it all.

Ok, and now to the blockbuster crime of the century: we took -- wait for it -- drum roll -- people are on then edge of their seats -- 350$!!!!!

Did I? I sure did, I took 350$ and left on Saturday. Tuesday afternoon I paypaled him -- wait for it ----- drum roll ---- 350$ back!! So he lost ----- 0 dollars! No one asked me to do this. I said to him, well here you read the text:

"Ok I'm going to pay pal you your money back. I never spent it, it was on principle. You'll have it today. I'm sorry things got to this level. Please text me to let me know you got it. Yea dude it's crazy. I don't hold any grudges man. I wish you and your crew the best."

I've said for years, I don't talk, I do. I let him feel what we felt -- to be disrespected an screwed. So the same thing doesn't happen to another wrestler (remember what I said about the boys sticking up for the boys?).

I have the PayPal receipt as well to prove it.

Ok so stealing and threatening have been covered, what else?

Oh I know! Ya know I could, I could slander your name as you have mine, wished harm on you as you have me (the getting in a car wreck bit was sure classy) or I could post your phone number on a social media site like you did mine. But I won't, I won't hang at the bottom of the barrel with you buddy.

And really 15 min after this ordeal this loser is on twitter begging for a match in ROH, like a certain someone in the ROH office said, "This is this losers big shot at getting some attention and he's going all out". Well friend I'm not mentioning you by name. Your going to have to get attention the same way I did in this wacky business- work your ass off and earn it.

I know it's the socially dictated right thing do to apologize and try to make amends. But c'mon that wouldn't be ol DR now would it?

So instead of trying release myself from responsibly by saying it was "anger taking hold or it was emotionally driven actions and comments" I'll simply say from the bottom of my heart that I don't apologize for anything, I'm proud that I stood up for my friend, what I was taught, and how I was raised, and most of all what I believe to be right. I meant every word and every action and take full responsiblity.

I don't talk, I act. I treat people how they treat me. I stand up for what I was taught and for my friends.

If I'm the bad guy for it, I welcome it with open arms. I'm more than willing to take shots for what I believe in.

I'll always be the first help people out (ask Adam Cole, Eddie Edwards, Kenny Omega, Kyle O'Reilly, and countless others) but I will also to call out what I don't believe to be right.

Maybe I just have rebel blood running through me, but I don't bow down, I don't keep my mouth shut, I don't run from what I disagree with. I speak up, I stand up and I fight for what I believe in. That's how I raised. If it's the end of ol DR then I couldn't be more proud.

It's like my grandma used to say to me, "It's better to hated for who you are than loved for who you're not".

In the end, to the guys in Iowa -- god bless ya, I wish you guys nothing but success. Hopefully y'all wake up but that's your cross to bear not mine.

And as Davey said in his shoot, "There's no quicker way to tell a coward than someone who sits back and judges people from behind a veil." I've never been much of a Davey fan in terms of wrestling, but I have to say I do understand the reasoning for him doing something like this. And the promoter/wrestlers/whatever that were "screwed" supposedly, are no better, or worse, than he is in my eyes - because I don't know them, and while I have a right to voice my opinion, I also have a responsibility not to be imbecile about it as a person. Fact is, nobody except Team Ambition, the promoter, and maybe some other people were there know what really happened. So to make assumptions and what-not of intensive form as I've seen, not so much here as other forums, makes those making the assumptions look like ignoramuses and scrubs.

El Asian wrote:I do wonder if PWG should consider replacing Davey for BOLA given the recent problems as of late

I don't see why PWG would replace Davey. The problem is not between Davey and PWG. I assume things are good between the two. I am curious as to whether or not Davey will get some heel heat for this at BOLA.

I dont know why it didnt post my video but heres the link... I cant wait to boo the shit out of Davey at BOLA... I wont boo Kyle as much as I view him as just a guy who blindly follows Davey

I give the rookie a free pass. Not O Reilley.

CheMateo wrote:

El Asian wrote:I do wonder if PWG should consider replacing Davey for BOLA given the recent problems as of late

I don't see why PWG would replace Davey. The problem is not between Davey and PWG. I assume things are good between the two. I am curious as to whether or not Davey will get some heel heat for this at BOLA.

According to the synopsis written on the BOLA thread, someone did speak out against Kyle and was booed. I even posted a response about Kyle having actually stolen money from a promoter, and whether PWG fans supported it and the post was deleted.